


Unconditional Love

by UmiHinode



Series: The Story is Eternal [6]
Category: Durarara!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Character Study, Established Relationship, M/M, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-16
Updated: 2018-07-16
Packaged: 2019-06-01 08:55:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15139580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UmiHinode/pseuds/UmiHinode
Summary: People meet, and people part.A look at Ikebukuro's most dangerous couple, one year later.





	Unconditional Love

Any good relationship wasn't without its pointless bets.

At least, that was what made up the relationship between Heiwajima Shizuo and Orihara Izaya. The bets had been a hit ever since their first one, especially considering it had resulted in the wedding of two of their closest friends. Well, the wedding would have happened regardless, but wouldn't have been as big of a success; so Izaya said. He had changed a lot over the past few years, but if there was one thing that hadn't changed, it was his inflated ego. Izaya aside, (not really), Shizuo would have never have guessed that a simple "I love you" would have so much power, though that was before he had heard it for himself for the very first time, from a human who meant it rather than a demonic blade with a rather twisted ideal of what love was.

As time went on, the bets continued, each one far more ridiculous or simplistic than the last. Their most recent battle was simple: who would last longer, Shizuo without cigarettes, or Izaya without ootoro? Both highly addictive, and both rather big weaknesses. It would be easy, Shizuo thought. After all, he didn't smoke nearly as much as he had before he started dating Izaya, which was significantly less than he had following Izaya's disappearance.

But this was before Izaya started dropping off the grid again.

No texts, no calls; he was simply gone without a trace. It wasn't uncommon for him to be busy from time to time - Shizuo had gotten all too used to that - but for him to not even say a word? Naturally Shizuo was concerned. Not  _too_ concerned, however; he had learned his lesson after the last incident.

_"Why are you so damn concerned?"_

Izaya wasn't one to lose his temper, and his shout had silenced even himself in that moment. Shizuo could still see just how insulted he had been behind that false bravado of his.

And so, instead of obsessively calling and texting, Shizuo smoked his worries away, and of course, Izaya just so happened to catch him in the act. Ikebukuro nightlife had hit its peak as he returned home for the night, mentally exhausted from the stress of his ignorance, and of attempting to act more like the Heiwajima Shizuo that had more or less found peace with himself rather than the Heiwajima Shizuo that would destroy everything and anything in his path. With Izaya gone, it was becoming a lot easier to revert to the latter, even with Tom and Varona at his side.

After two weeks without any sort of contact, the first words Shizuo heard his boyfriend say were, "Guess I win."

Were he not Heiwajima Shizuo, he probably would've dropped dead right then and there, both from shock and an overwhelming amount of rage, because of _course_  Izaya would bring up the bet first _._ "Fucking hell!" He swore, bringing another one of his bad habits back into the spotlight. Immediately he dropped the cigarette and crushed it with his shoe, storming towards Izaya and grabbing him by the shirt collar, glaring into his guilty eyes. "Where have you been?"

Izaya chuckled weakly. "Classified, sorry."

"Oh, no." Shizuo scowled, though his grip on Izaya was loosening. "You don't get to pull that shit with me."

"Can you at least let go of me?"

He did.

"Honestly, it's not a big deal," Izaya replied, adjusting his shirt collar before sauntering past him, attempting to get a head start into Shizuo's apartment complex, though he couldn't make it through the door before Shizuo stopped him.

"You didn't say anything for  _two weeks_ , and it's not a big deal?"

Izaya paused, taking a moment to inhale, exhale, and calm himself before peering over his shoulder. "Shizu-chan."  _Oh no._ "You're making a scene." Without waiting for him, Izaya vanished into the building, leaving a begrudging Shizuo to follow.

"Wouldn't be making a scene if you'd just said something," he muttered under his breath as he did so.

Izaya was already sprawled out across his couch by the time he got there, and he stood in front of him, waiting for him to move his legs so he could sit down beside him. With an over dramatic groan, Izaya did so. "Are you ready to be civil now?"

"Sorry," Shizuo mumbled, his fingers heading for his hair out of habit. "You've got to understand where I'm coming from. And don't even give me that 'I can take care of myself' crap. I know you can. I just wish you'd told me  _anything_."

"It wasn't any of your business," Izaya replied, and when Shizuo narrowed his eyes, Izaya held a hand up as a warning. "That sounds bad, but it really wasn't. I was trying to save you from dealing with more than you had to.

Shizuo raised his brows. "What do you mean?"

"Someone was after me again," Izaya began, pulling himself up from the slouching position he had found himself in and crossing his arms indignantly. "Between you working a lot of extra hours lately, and the incident with Kasuka, I didn't want to give you anything else to worry about."

"You're an idiot, you know that?"

"Forgive me for trying to be a decent-" Izaya stopped, completely frozen as Shizuo pulled him into his embrace. Laughing to himself, he said, "Wow, you came around quicker than I thought you would."

"I'm still mad at you."

"Of course you are," Izaya murmured, accepting his fate and leaning into Shizuo's embrace, no longer frozen. The two enjoyed the brief silence as they sat together, Izaya's head resting on Shizuo's shoulder, until he managed to pull himself away. Not facing Shizuo, he said, "I should probably head home. I'm sure you're tired."

"It's after one, you know," Shizuo pointed out. "The trains have stopped by now."

Izaya shrugged to himself. "I could always walk. It's not  _that_  far, and the exercise will do me some good." Not wanting a reply, he rose from his seat, though he stopped when Shizuo caught him by the wrist.

"Just stay. Please."

"You're awfully demanding," Izaya teased, taking his seat on the couch once again. "Don't come crying to me in the morning when you're too tired to go to work."

Shizuo was silent.

. . .

Miraculously, the two managed to get a bit of sleep that night, and though Izaya had teased Shizuo for being awfully affectionate considering the circumstances, Shizuo had woken up with Izaya clinging onto him, weighed down by his head on his chest and an arm draped over his stomach. Shizuo smiled at the sight, though he knew it couldn't last much longer.

"Get up," he said quietly, though loud enough for Izaya to hopefully stir. "Some of us have to work."

Izaya made some sort of incomprehensible noise, unwilling to move from his spot.

"Izaya, seriously."

"You're not allowed to go to work today."

Shizuo snorted. "You were gone for two weeks. You don't get a say."

Izaya finally managed to pull himself together, sitting up and letting out a long yawn in protest. Drowsily, he retorted, "You lost the bet, so you owe me a favor."

"You and that damn bet!" Shizuo exclaimed, turning his back to him. "What's this favor you want?"

"I want you," Izaya said with a devilish glint in his eyes. "To be my secretary for the day."

"Huh."

Izaya sighed, falling back against the bed and closing his eyes. "You heard me."

Shizuo glanced over his shoulder, rolling his eyes when he saw Izaya's over dramatic pouting. "What about Namie-san?"

"I'm sure she'd love a day off," Izaya replied, sitting back up and scooting over towards him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Get dressed. We're going to Shinjuku."

_The things I do for you._

. . .

Entering Izaya's apartment for the first time in weeks was a breath of fresh air. In a way, it had become Shizuo's home away from home. Over the past several months, he had watched it turn from a picture perfect, brand new apartment to Izaya's home. It was still picture perfect for the most part, with its sheer size, expensive furniture, and barely a thing out of place, but there were bits of Izaya everywhere. The bookshelves that he had started filling up, almost back to their former glory, the clutter that made up his work space, the filthy white board that had been written on and erased far too many times, the mess of a kitchen... It was almost more of a home for him than his own. Not that he would ever give Izaya the satisfaction of knowing that.

"Home sweet home," Izaya sighed dreamily, immediately plopping himself down at his desk and turning his computer on. Peering over his monitor, he asked a rather awkward, fumbling Shizuo, "Did you miss it here?"

"Don't be stupid."

Izaya smiled. "So, for your first task, how about you make us some breakfast?"

"You can't do that yourself?" Shizuo asked, brows raised. "I might burn the place down. Also, pretty sure this isn't a secretary's job."

"Secretary, assistant, whatever you'd like to call it," Izaya replied nonchalantly. "Believe it or not, I have a bit of a schedule."

"Uh huh," Shizuo murmured, trudging into the kitchen. As he peeked through the fridge and cabinets, he called to Izaya, "Why do you even need a secretary? You're way too stubborn to ask for help, especially from me."

"Well, after having Namie-san around for so long, I got used to the company."

Shizuo hummed in response, more or less ignoring his answer as he sifted through the fridge, only to stop. "How am I supposed to make breakfast when everything's stale?"

Izaya's only response was a chuckle.

"Asshole," Shizuo grumbled, leaving the fridge behind for a cabinet he had missed. Opening it revealed a small hoard of snacks, along with two cups of instant ramen. "Interesting," he murmured to himself, taking the cups and closing the cabinet with his elbow before approaching Izaya. "I thought cup ramen was beneath you."

"Did I say that?" Izaya asked, eyes on his computer screen.

"Yeah, when you made dinner for me that one time."

"I've made dinner for you more times than I can count."

Shizuo rolled his eyes, albeit with a smile. "I think it was the first time, actually."

Izaya was silent in thought for a moment. "That was really just a year ago, huh. It feels like it's been a lot longer."

"So, are you okay with ramen?"

"Glutton," Izaya teased. "I suppose."

With a concrete answer and now no longer fearing the demise of Izaya's apartment, or at least his kitchen, Shizuo got to work. The short time it took to "cook" the ramen didn't allow him to do it long, but his mind fixated on the realization that it had been only a year since Izaya had come back into his life. To think that it had all started with a declaration to leave each other alone, only for Izaya getting shot to whisk him away to Shizuo's apartment and kick start a painfully awkward friendship.

_If Izaya hadn't had his ass handed to him, I probably wouldn't be here right now._ Shizuo stifled a laugh as he thought to himself. It wasn't funny, really, but something about it just  _was_. To think, that if they hadn't spent that short amount of time together, things would have turned out far differently. He found his gaze wandering to his boyfriend, oblivious as he rather aggressively typed away, and he couldn't stop the wide smile tugging at his lips; until the timer for the ramen snapped him out of it, of course.

"Anything else you want me to do?" Shizuo asked as he set the cup down off to the side of Izaya's desk.

"Where was this enthusiasm earlier?"

Said enthusiasm didn't last long.

. . .

"How do you do this all day?" Shizuo asked, slumping in the chair directly across from Izaya. "It's so damn boring."

"You're not paying attention, Shizuo." Izaya's hands halted as he slid his own chair off to the side to see around his computer. "It's quite the opposite."

Shizuo shrugged. "Yeah, well, you're not the one who's been digging through files and taking notes and shit all day."

"And as I  _said_ ," Izaya pressed. "You're not paying attention."

_Monologue incoming._ Shizuo almost smiled.

"This city is full of so many different people, all with their own stories," Izaya began, gesturing for Shizuo to come over as he scooted in his chair over to the window behind him. "Do you know why I'm so fascinated with humans?"

"Because you're a freak?" Izaya shot him a look, and he raised his hands up in protest. "Take it as a compliment."

"Because I can't help it. It's human nature to want to know more about what you love, to reveal its true essence. In a way, it's what drew me to you."

"Really?"

Izaya nodded. "I'm curious, that's all. No two people are exactly the same. There are similarities, but every person is fundamentally different, from appearance, to voice, to thoughts, beliefs, desires. You can never truly be bored with a job like this, especially in Ikebukuro." Taking Shizuo's hand in his, he continued. "I think that's why I was so drawn to you, whether it was by hatred or love, or just pure curiosity. You seemed to stand against everything I believed in, but you proved me wrong. You're more human than anyone."

As much as Shizuo hated it, he couldn't fight the fact that his face was heating up. "God, you don't have notes on me, do you?"

Izaya's grin was near terrifying.

"Here we go," Shizuo muttered, bringing himself to smile as he did so.

"It's kind of scary how well your name fits you. All your life, you had been lonely, searching for a peaceful existence you believed to be unobtainable. All you wanted was to be connected to someone, yet you did nothing but keep everyone at a distance, even your family." Izaya's grip on his hand tightened. "No man is an island, but you were scared. Scared that you could only destroy. But slowly, you let people in. Shinra, Celty, Tom, Akane, Varona... myself. You started embracing parts of yourself you couldn't before: your kindness, your rather weak sense of humor-"

"Hey!"

"-and your strength. You were no longer a monster."

Shizuo was silent, eyes downcast on their intertwined fingers as he struggled to come up with a response. All he could manage to say was, "Damn."

"And that's only part of it. It's the abridged version, if you will."

" _Damn._ " Shizuo chuckled. Izaya almost seemed to be pulling his hand away, and Shizuo grasped for him, meeting him with a smile. "Okay, tell me about someone else."

"I thought you'd never ask."

. . .

After an interminable amount of time spent psychoanalyzing the people in their lives and the nameless faces that made up the background, Izaya had shut his computer down and settled in the crook of Shizuo's arm as they sat on the couch, Channel 666 news reporting distantly.

"So, have you learned anything today?"

Shizuo blinked at him. "Learned anything? Like...about people?"

"Anything at all."

Removing his arm from Izaya's waist, Shizuo leaned over towards the coffee table, grasping for a notebook Izaya had failed to notice. "Well, I took some notes."

"About...?"

"About you."

"Really." Izaya beamed. "Tell me something."

Shizuo briefly adjusted his sunglasses. "Well, for starters, you're a piece of shit, you know that?"

"And you're the absolute worst at flattery."

"Let me finish," Shizuo said, draping his free arm around him once more. "You're a piece of shit, but you're not nearly as bad as you were a year ago even. You know you screwed up, and you said you wouldn't apologize, but you're trying in your own weird way to make up for what you did. Shinra told me once that we had a lot in common, and I think I get where he's coming from now. When you were talking about me earlier, it almost sounded like you were talking about yourself."

Silence.

Shizuo dared to continue. "He also told me that you're a bastard, but your heart's just as fragile as anyone's. You get hurt just like anyone, and you want to fix things so you won't stay hurt. That's why you talked to me that day, to stop the pain, right? I think. You don't really talk about stuff like that. I just kinda assumed, since Shinra said your heart was... actually, never mind."

"Continue."

"I dunno where I'm going with this," Shizuo murmured, setting the notebook down. "I just...we were both lonely. And I guess I'm just trying to say that I'm happy I have you now, s'all. And you're kinda cute when you ramble."

"Sap."

Shizuo sighed. "I won't even fight you there. I just want to add, that I'm kinda a piece of shit too. Though I'm sure you already knew that."

Izaya's silence only proved his point.

"You know, there's something Masaomi-kun and Saki-chan used to say to each other," Izaya finally said. "If you think it's a flaw, fix it."

"If you think it's a flaw, fix it," Shizuo echoed. "I like that."

With a yawn, Izaya replied, "Well, I don't know about you, but even I need a break after today."

"Really?" Shizuo asked, laughing as he did so. Quietly, he added, "Hey, sorry I was a bit of a jerk. I had fun. Sometimes."

"No worries." Izaya leaned over, pressing a quick kiss to his cheek. "I guess you could call this my karma. Now we're even."

"Promise you'll tell me when your life is in danger again?"

Izaya chuckled. "'When' rather than 'if', huh."

"You're Orihara Izaya. I don't think I can expect anything else."

As he sat there with him, hand in hand, he didn't think he could've asked for anything better.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm back with yet another long AN! It's not bad, though; today's just an important day for me and I've done a bit of reflecting.
> 
> Four years ago today, I began publishing my first ever fanfic, a Shizaya fanfic named Trial and Error. It's still my most popular fic to this day, with almost 35,000 views and 100+ followers, which is a shame because it's pretty bad. I was just a kid having fun though, so I guess I can excuse myself. Kinda. It was a lot of fun while it lasted, and though my feelings for it are...mixed...the fact still stands that I wouldn't be where I am without it. So, I decided to honor it somewhat today, as if the blatant references in Life is an Unknown Course weren't enough.
> 
> One of the main points of t&e was that Shizuo began working as Izaya's secretary, so I wanted to briefly highlight it here. I was going to add a dream sequence where Shizuo dreamed about the events of the fic, but it didn't really fit. Another minor reference is the Kasuka incident, something that technically hasn't happened yet. I might show it if I figure out what to do with it, because I do want to write something for Kasuka (and Ruri), but for now, don't really read into it that much. this is what happens when you decide to write a series completely out of order rain, sigh
> 
> Anyway, I'm gonna turn into Shizuo and be a sap for a minute. I want to thank you all from the bottom of my heart for every kudos, every bookmark, every comment, and even for just reading. Your support truly means the world to me. I almost gave up on writing for good last summer, and I'm so happy I didn't. Knowing that the fandom for my favorite series of all time still lives, even just barely, and that people enjoy the stories I have to tell is what keeps me going everyday, even though it can be pretty tough some days.
> 
> Okay, one final note: updates! Simply put, I'm not going to have a schedule for a while. I'll post whenever I have something. I'm pretty inspired, though, so hopefully I can get a couple more out before I start school again. In fact, I actually published two fics today, since it also just so happens to be Varona's birthday! Hopefully you'll give that a read as well, wink wink nudge nudge
> 
> Four years later and I still don't know how to condense author's notes, sorry guys. Hopefully they'll get shorter from here on out. Hopefully. Anyway, as always, thank you for reading, and I'll see you next time!


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